


Please Notice

by jell_0_shot



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jell_0_shot/pseuds/jell_0_shot
Summary: Just a short drabble about teenage Ben pining over teenage Leslie because they're dorks in love I don't know





	Please Notice

Maybe Ben hadn't made it obvious enough.

He looked down into the dark liquid at the bottom of his red solo cup. He was starting to feel the effects of the last few, too. It wasn't that he was drunk, no, just that when he looked around the room his head felt a little light, and things looked a little fuzzy. He finished off the last of his rum and coke.

Rum wasn't really his drink. He preferred beer, but it turned out beer wasn't strong enough when you were pining. He'd thought that maybe she would pick up on his hints - after all, she was the smartest person he knew. But it seemed that all of his small gifts, the pointed looks, the things he'd say with an extra little ache because of course, he meant so much more than he was saying, had gone completely over her head. And it was his fault, really, because he was too scared to tell her how he really felt.

Two months ago, when Harvey had broken up with her in front of the whole debate team, she didn't cry. She'd just found Ben, asked him to hold her for a little while, and breathed. Ben hadn't said a word, just wrapped his arms around her and waited. After a couple of minutes, she'd pulled away and forced a smile onto her face.

"You deserve so much better." He'd said.

"Yeah." She'd nodded, and then disappeared for last period.

It was things like that that drove Ben to drinking rum. There is a very particular pain that comes with being in love with someone who relies on you for their every emotion. He's been there for her happiest moments, and her saddest, experiencing it all with a certain heaviness and restraint. He loved being her friend, but a part of him just wished she'd notice.

The music that was blaring out of Tom's speakers suddenly came back into his focus, and he remembered where he was. This was a party - an end-of-the-school-year party, no less. He should be having fun. He could see Chris and Andy goofing around with a football outside, letting off steam after a stressful year of exams and people reminding them how much closer they were to having to make college decisions. At least they still had one more year together, Ben reminded himself.

He decided to skip another drink for now, and started to make his way out of the kitchen when - 

Leslie.

She twirled into him by mistake, obviously a few drinks in also. He caught and steadied her, unable to stop the dumb smile that slipped onto his dumb face. She was giggling and warm and she'd curled her hair a different way, he noticed. 

"Oh, sorry Wyatt!" She exclaimed, breathy, looking up at him.

She looked more impossibly beautiful than he ever could have imagined. Her eyes were shining and there was so much joy radiating from her, he could physically feel it. He realised he was still clutching her arms, despite the fact that she was very much stable and standing on her own now. He quickly dropped his arms.

"I didn't know you'd arrived. How are you?" He asked.

She moved past him and filled up a glass with water from the tap. "Yeah, Ann and I got here a half hour ago. I'm great! I'm having so much fun." She turned back to him and pointed at the water, "Just a precautionary glass."

"Ah." Ben nodded. She took her water-to-alcohol ratio very seriously.

"What are you doing in here by yourself?" Suddenly her face changed, "Oh, no, Ben - are you sad?"

She walked towards him as she spoke, placing a friendly hand on his arm. She was looking at him with concern - he obviously wasn't doing a great job of hiding his moping. He also couldn't help feel a little annoyed about the fact that she could touch him so easily, in a sort-of intimate way, without it sending her spiraling. It definitely meant she only saw him as a friend, right?

"I'm okay." He tried to smile in a way that she'd believe.

She stepped back, her hand dropping, not convinced. "Everyone's outside watching Andy and Chris play football. I'm about to go and force them to let me join in, you wanna come with?"

He knew that look. That was her I'm-going-to-fix-you look. He'd seen it many times throughout his life - when his dad left, the first time he failed a paper, when Cindy dumped him a week out from Valentine's Day. And, for the record, usually she succeeded in cheering him up. This one was going to be a bit trickier to fix, though.

"Oh, that sounds fun but I think I might just watch from in here. It's, ah... a little cold outside."

"No, it's not." She cocked her head to the side, "Okay, come with me."

She grabbed his hand and pulled. He could have stopped her if he'd wanted to, but her hand slipped into his so effortlessly and he selfishly wanted to spend time with her. She dragged him onto the front lawn, away from everyone but close enough that they could still hear the noise of it all.

"Alright, spill, Wyatt." She lay down on the grass, their connected hands bringing him down with her. Once they were laying on their backs, staring at the sky, she let his hand fall loosely from hers.

"Honestly, Leslie, it's so silly. Don't worry about."

"Nothing is silly if it's how you feel." She pointed at the sky, "I think that's Venus."

Ben squinted at the stars. He had no idea. "Sure."

"So?"

He sighed. She wasn't going to give up, he knew that much. "I just... there's this girl, and I like her a lot. But I don't think she feels the same way."

Ben noticed that she shifted a little, and hesitated before she spoke. "How do you know she doesn't?"

"We've been friends for a long time, I don't think she sees me as anything else." Ben's head was spinning. He was laying on the grass, under the stars, next to Leslie Knope. She was questioning him about the girl he liked, (her), and he was giving her answers that felt so scarily close to the full truth. Yet everything felt oddly calm and still, despite the party that was going on just inside the house. It felt special, like maybe this was the most alone they'd ever been.

Which was ridiculous, of course. They'd spent plenty of time together, alone, planning school events and finishing off homework, and sometimes they went to the movies just the two of them.

"Tell me about her." He didn't know it, but Leslie was challenging him.

Oh, god.

He looked at her, but she was still staring at the stars. He couldn't read her face - or, the side of her face. He spoke softly, with a small confidence that was either gifted to him by the alcohol, of the light hum of the moment. 

"Ahh, okay. Well, she's not my usual type."

"Not everyone can be leggy and brunette, Ben."

"I know." He smiled, knowing that would get a rise out of her. "She's incredibly smart, and very kind."

Leslie was nodding along, "Okay, good. What else?"

"She makes really good cupcakes."

She turned to meet his eyes, both of them completely aware of the fact that she makes him cupcakes for his birthday every year. There was no turning back now.

"She makes me laugh all the time. And sometimes she can be really... intense. And infuriating."

"Well, I would argue that maybe she just cares a lot."

"She does. It's one of my favourite things about her."

Neither one of them had looked away from the other, and Ben could sense a sort of vulnerability about her. He kept going.

"You can always tell when she's really happy, because she starts to talk really fast - faster than normal - and her whole face lights up. And when she's mad, she has to close her eyes to calm down and it's the cutest thing in the world." Ben took a deep breath, " She's so beautiful it makes my heart stop. I'd give anything to be able to kiss her."

Leslie's breathing had quickened, and she was smiling at him in a way that made him never want to leave this patch of grass. It belonged to them now, and so did this night and the stars and the moon and the whole damn sky.

"I'm pretty sure she wants you to." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

It didn't take long for Ben to close the gap between them. He'd been wanting this exact moment for so long, and it was even sweeter in reality. She was kissing him back just as much, just as passionately. Ben felt the night sky fall around them, until they were in and amongst the stars. No - she was a star, and he was just floating.

He shifted his body, his palm reaching out to the soft ground on the other side of Leslie to steady himself. Her body was warm beneath him, and she pressed her hand onto his chest before wrapping it around his neck and pulling him deeper into the kiss. She tasted of whipped cream and vodka.

Eventually, he pulled back and smiled goofily at her. "Oh, by the way, it's you."

She rolled her eyes dramatically and giggled, "Oh, yeah, I figured. And I feel the same way."

"You do?" Ben sat up and she followed suit. "I guess I just assumed that you only saw me as a friend, which was fine. I love being your friend. But I wanted - well, still want - to be so much more. But I convinced myself that every time you were nice to me, it was because you're just that amazing to everyone."

"Same here, buddy."

"I guess we were both just waiting for the other to notice."

"I guess so." She grabbed his hand again. She pulled it towards her chest and sighed, but in a happy way. A grin tugged on her lips, "Benji Wyatt has a crush on me."

He laughed, "Big time." 

She looked at him very seriously, "One day, very soon, I'm going to need an in-depth description of your feelings for me, from when you first realised right up to this very moment. But, for now -" She smiled, "You wanna get another drink and then make out a lot in the guest room?"

"God, yes. Yes."

And that's what they did.


End file.
